The quest for change in the new South Africa on political , economical and social frontiers were primarily directed at entrance into the global markets, establishing democracy and leveling the playing fields amongst South Africa&rsquo / s diverse population. Those previously disenfranchised on political, economical and social grounds waited in anticipation on the rewards for their participation in the struggle against the discriminative minority regime of the past. These rewards would be in the form of radical policy changes sometimes far removed from the realities of the ordinary citizen. These reforms especially those on the educational level would prove to be flawed with constraints not anticipated by these policy developers as well as the government of the day. The educational transformation process was thus deemed as significant in order to address equity and equality and in so doing also provide skilled citizens which are able to be globally competitive.<br /> <br /> These educational changes in terms of schools were externalised in the form of Curriculum 2005 and Outcomes-based Education. Curriculum 2005 was viewed as a planned framework (process) of curriculum innovation underpinned by factors such as redress, access, equity and development. Outcomes-based Education in turn was the approach focusing on what is learned and how learning is taken place. This study will focus on Curriculum 2005 and OBE as education transformation tools and to what extent grade 7 teachers as implementers and modifiers understand and practice C2005 and OBE in their respective classrooms. One of the biggest problems facing the educational transformation process is the fact that there exists a gap between theory (policy) and practice (implementation). This gap can be attributed to different factors present in the historical disadvantaged school context in South Africa.<br /> <br /> This study will follow a qualitative approach which is directed at an inquiry process of understanding based on a distinct methodological approach. Data- gathering tools such as direct observation, structured interviews and questionnaires will be used. The research was primarily conducted in historically disadvantaged schools in the Metropole-east circuit of the Western Cape Educational Department. The sample was made up of schools in Macassar, Firgrove, Somerset-West, Strand, Temperance Town and Sir Lowry&rsquo / s Pass.

The study aimed to investigate the status and practice of life orientation in South African schools. Life orientation is a quintessential new learning area, introduced as part of curriculum transformation in South Africa, and is intented to equip learners with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes for successful living and learning. Preliminary observations suggested that life orientation has not been optimally implemented in schools, and the low status legacy of life orientation's constituents added further impetus to the rationale for the study.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 2003. / Title from title page screen, viewed March 21, 2005. Dissertation Committee: Dent Rhodes (chair), Temba Bassoppo-Moyo, Cheri Toledo, David B. Williams, Larry W. Long. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-117) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (MPhil)-- Stellenbosch University, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Today, educators in South Africa must be capable of successfully designing and implementing an outcomes-based curriculum that prepares learners for the world of work. The aim of this study is to determine what kind of groundwork has to be done by history educators to prepare themselves for outcomes-based education and the General Education and Training Phase. The Revised National Curriculum Statement will have far-reaching implications on curriculum development. A thorough knowledge of the principles and theoretical foundation of the process of curriculum development and outcomesbased education is essential to the successful implementation of the directives contained in this document. Dynamic curriculum development is founded on the quality of a thorough design. Educators - the people who use the curriculum - must be closely involved in the content and planning thereof. By implementing the proposed structure and procedures educators will be able to ensure quality control with regard to the successful preparation, implementation and assessment of outcomes-based education. This will also provide continuity in outcomes-based curriculum development. Once the newly designed curriculum has been established, existing school and classroom practices cannot be retained. Appropriate preparation is essential for the comprehensive changes that are taking place. Good management at all levels will prevent a climate of dissatisfaction and resistance from arising during the preparation phase of the curriculum. The real success of curriculum design depends on how it is implemented in the school and the classroom. In this study the emphasis falls on the modular approach to curriculum, with the learning area history as an example. The implementation of the designed curriculum must be continuously assessed. Through curriculum or quality assessment of their operations, services and learning programmes, schools must strive towards applying quality management to the benefit of the educators as well as the learners. It is vital that all educators, also history educators, will offer quality services that are globally competitive. In the final analysis curriculum development is about the learners and the way in which they will benefit from the process. The learners deserve to have a first-rate curriculum. After all, it is the stated aim of outcomes-based education to encourage learners to be successful. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Tans moet opvoeders in Suid-Afrika in staat wees om 'n uitkomsgebaseerde kurrikulum, wat leerders voorberei vir die wêreld van werk, suksesvol te ontwerp en te implementeer. Hierdie studie het ten doelom vas te stel watter voorbereiding nodig is om die geskiedenis-opvoeder vir uitkomsgebaseerde onderwys en die Algemene Onderwys- en Opleidingsfase voor te berei. Die Hersiene Nasionale Kurrikulumverklaring gaan verreikende implikasies hê. Om die voorskrifte wat daarin vervat is suksesvol te implementeer, verg 'n deeglike kennis van die beginsels en teoretiese basis van die proses van kurrikulumontwikkeling en uitkomsgebaseerde onderwys. Dinamiese kurrikulumontwikkeling berus op die kwaliteit van 'n deeglike ontwerp. Die inhoud en beplanning van die kurrikulumontwerp mag nie vir kurrikulumgebruikers verlore gaan nie. Deur die voorgestelde struktuur en voorskrifte te implementeer, kan kwaliteitbeheer t.o.v. die latere suksesvolle gereedmaking, implementering en assessering van uitkomsgebaseerde onderwys moontlik gemaak word. Dit verleen ook kontinuïteit aan uitkomsgebaseerde kurrikulumontwikkeling. Ná die nuut-ontwerpe kurrikulum daargestel is, kan bestaande skool- en klaskamerbestuurspraktyke nie bly handhaaf word nie. Behoorlike gereedmaking vir hierdie omvattende veranderinge is nodig. Goeie bestuur op alle vlakke verhoed dat 'n klimaat van ontevredenheid en weerstand tydens die gereedmaking van die kurrikulum ontstaan. Die werklike sukses van kurrikulumontwerp berus op die praktiese implementering daarvan in die skool en klaskamer. Daar word in hierdie studie op die modulêre kurrikulumbenadering gefokus, met geskiedenis as voorbeeld. Die implementering van die ontwerpte kurrikulum moet deurlopend geassesseer word. Deur kurrikulum- of kwaliteitsassessering van hul bedryf, dienste en leerprogramme, moet skole daarna streef om kwaliteitsbestuur tot voordeel van die opvoeders en leerders aan te wend. Dit is belangrik dat alle opvoeders, ook geskiedenis-opvoeders, in skole kwaliteitdienste wat globaal mededingend is lewer. Die leerders is uiteindelik die begin- en eindpunt van kurrikulumontwikkeling. Die leerders verdien 'n kwaliteitkurrikulum. UGO wil leerders immers aanmoedig om suksesvol te wees.

This research investigates the benefits of adventure-based activities used as a learning experience at school level. In order to scientifically investigate these benefits the study is located at a school where an adventure-based programme is being developed as part of the school's curriculum. This programme consists of a range of adventure type experiences including, rock climbing, abseiling, canoeing, mountain biking, group dynamic activities, survival camps, ropes courses and adventure racing. At Lilyfontein School these activities form part of the Life Orientation and life Skill programmes from grade 1 to grade 11. Specialized and qualified staff are used to conduct some of these programmes. Adventure-based activities are rigorous and contain elements of risk which require problem solving, good decision making and sound emotional management. These aspects present both physical and mental challenges to any participant. This study postulates that learners engaged in these adventure type activities are faced with using meta-cognitive strategies to help them through these mental and physical challenges. In doing these activities regularly learners will develop meta-cognitive strategies that will enable them to become better self-regulated learners. A self-regulated learner is able to use meta-cognitive strategies like problem solving, decision making, selfevaluation, self-monitoring, self-reflective thinking or emotional control in life generally. The aim of this research is to conduct an on-going action research study of the adventure-based programmes to determine their worth for the learners at Lilyfontein School and consequently the future of such experiences in a school's curriculum. This forms the primary goal of this research. The secondary goal is to gather valid and reliable evidence required to make an argument for the School's Governing Body (SGB) and Curriculum Development Committee (CDC) to be able to substantiate decisions relating to any such future programmes. This research regards the school context as the activity system which forms a primary case study. In order to extract maximum information from this educational system, embedded case studies will be conducted and monitored. These embedded case studies will be made up of the following groups of people: firstly the learners engaged in a variety of adventure-based experiences, secondly the educators as they observe and perceive the consequences of these experiences, and thirdly the parents as they identifY possible influences of adventure-based experiences on the behaviours, beliefs or habits of their children. In this research study data collecting techniques are used to extract infonnation from the embedded cases. Infonnation is elicited from parents and educators through the use of questionnaires and interviews. For learners, narratives and interviews are used to get a more qualitative sense of their beliefs and feelings on adventure-based experiences. However, in order to capture and document the learners' use of metacognitive strategies as they engage in the rigours of an adventure-based activity a more empirical approach is used. This approach uses in-depth observation, recording and measuring of the learners in action. Video footage is used to record the learners' reactions as they battle with fear, mental-strength, fatigue and decision making to accomplish their goal during an adventure activity. This study claims that an adventure-based experience helps to mediate the learning that will develop selfregulatory strategies in a learner. The limited research in the adventure-based learning field and more significantly the lack of empirical evidence of how meta-cognitive strategies fonn a crucial component of adventure-based activities has meant that the researcher has developed his own recording, measuring and analytical tools to serve this end. He has chosen to use Engestrom's third generation Activity Theory model which provides a useful underlying theory as well as an analytical and interpretive framework for this study. The research was conducted over a period of three years. Findings are considered in relation to the National Curriculum Statement for the GET and FET bands to ensure its relevance in the school context to the National Department of Education's expectations for the Life Orientation curriculum. The empirical findings of this study at Lilyfontein School and their relevance to the curriculum content of the National Curriculum Statement ought to provide convincing data for very important curriculum policy decisions at Lilyfontein School and in the broader educational context.

Curriculum 2005 is an attempt by the South African government to create and implement a strategic plan to change the formal school curriculum. The new curriculum has 'integration' as one of its focal features. This study is an investigation of the use of' environment' as an integrating' organiser' in the senior phase of Curriculum 2005 in a selection of schools in the Mpumalanga province. While the Curriculum 2005 framework encourages curriculum integration, this is an area which might be neglected during implementation, because there is so little experience among teachers of working in an 'integrated' way. Environmental education is an approach to education which requires and facilitates curriculum integration. This study has the potential to contribute to our understanding of the integration of environmental learning across the new curriculum. Questionnaires and vignettes based on document analysis, follow-up interviews and classroom observations, involving a small group of teachers, were used in conducting the study. The investigation has revealed that participating teachers show a limited understanding of the constructs 'environment' and 'phase organiser'. Teachers do not take or introduce a critical perspective on the nature and causes of environmental issues. They treat the construct 'environment' and associated issues quite superficially when working with learners. Participating teachers generally misunderstood the concept 'phase organisers' and tended to interpret it in concepts associated with the curriculum framework they were used to. Curriculum 2005 also requires teachers to take on a more active curriculum development role. This study looked at four teachers' attempts to develop learning programme units, and at the way in which two teachers implement their curriculum plans focussing on 'environment', in the classroom. It was found that participating teachers do not always follow the same sequence or steps when developing a learning programme. Learning programme units were not considered in developmental sequence, they lacked some form of continuity and links between intended learning outcomes and teaching activities were also lacking. There was inadequate integration between learning areas. Furthermore, integration between knowledge, skills, values and attitudes was also not quite clear among the teachers, and they tended to deal with environmental knowledge in a rather limited way, focussing instead on the awareness and attitudes. These findings are of concern, and they are in keeping with the Curriculum 2005 Review Report, which highlighted the danger of inadequate focus on curriculum content. On overall teachers seem to be struggling with the whole notion of 'integration', even though environment as a phase organiser is meant to assist with curriculum integration. The thesis ends with recommendations on how teachers might be assisted to achieve meaningful curriculum integration, through using learning outcomes as well as content knowledge relevant to environmental learning.

This Portfolio was submitted in 2005 to Rhodes University as a Research Portfolio presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in General Education Theory and Practice. The Portfolio consists of seven (7) key parts. The reader of this Portfolio is courteously informed that the structure of this portfolio is to some extent differ from the thesis structure. Thus, the reader should be attentive not to weigh against the two. Further more, I hereby declare that this portfolio is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of references indicated at the end of each part. Part 2 and 6 are the core parts of the portfolio. The focal point of part 2 is the contextual curriculum analysis of Grade 8-10 Oshindonga Curriculum in order to investigate its implementation in four educational circuits: Oshigambo, Onathinge, Onyaanya and Omuthiya in Oshikoto Region. Based on the findings of this analysis, lack of critical inquiry and reflective practice among Oshindonga teachers was identified as one of the major obstacles that preventing the effective implementation of the curriculum. Most of these teachers are Basic Education Teacher Diploma (BETD) postgraduates. Thus, part 3 and 4 were developed as supplements to inform the main research paper (part 6) which is related to teacher's professionalism in the classroom. The focus of part 3 (literature review) was on the teacher as a reflective practitioner. This is in line with the Namibian Education Policy, which identifies reflective practice as the heart of teacher professionalism. In this part, I explored a variety of views related to the notion of professionalism in teaching. I have also focused on views related to teacher's professional development both on macro and micro levels. These views provided a clarification and an underpinning framework on which to base my analysis of reflective practice as professionalism in education. Part 4 (education theories) focused on the digging of understanding of knowledge as an important theoretical domain of behaviourist and constructivist theories. I have tried to establish how the two theories (Behaviourist and Constructivist) view knowledge and its acquisition and to gain an understanding of how the two theories have been informing the practice. Subsequently, part 6 meant to investigate and assess the extent to which Basic Education Teacher Diploma postgraduate teachers are autonomously applying the theory of critical inquiry and reflective practice in the classroom. Both part 2 and 6 have findings. There is much correlation between the issues and problems in the implementation of the curriculum as identified in part 2 and the findings of the main research paper (part 6). Though critical inquiry and reflective practice is the key journey towards a high level of reflectivity and one of the significant characters of teacher professionalism in the classroom, most issues and problems identified were related to the insufficient practice of critical inquiry and reflective practices. Low correlation was found between critical inquiry and reflective practice theory and teachers' practices in the classroom. Despite to the fact that various rationales were mentioned as to why critical inquiry and reflective practice successful implementation is not taking place, the study positioned an emphasis on team working at school, cluster and circuit base that could contributed to a great extend to making teachers more competent and supporting themselves in mastering the applicable critical inquiry and reflective practice skills.

South African education is in the process of undergoing what has become known as a "paradigm shift", requiring a change from the familiar transmission method to outcomes-based education (OBE) founded on social constructivist theories oflearning and teaching. Teachers, (45% of whom are poorly qualified), "will play a pivotal role in the success or failure of this change. There is therefore an urgent need to re-educate in-service teachers in the philosophy, and related methodologies underpinning Curriculum 2005. To this end, in-service education courses need to be developed "which will encourage teachers to reconstruct their beliefs about teaching and learning. INSET programmes in the past were aimed at either "topping up" qualified teachers, or "adding on" for under qualified teachers - neither of which have proved successful. It is therefore unlikely that applying similar methodologies to support teachers in the shift to OBE will meet with success, nor will simply "training" teachers to use the new learning programmes. Government documents on Education Policy are calling for teachers to become reflexive practitioners, able to guide learners in their efforts to achieve the critical outcomes which are intended to develop a competent citizenry of lifelong learners. Therefore, teachers ought to be empowered as curriculum developers in their own right. This interpretative case study hoped to find out from teachers themselves what aspects of an activity-based environmental education course acted as change agents in assisting them to begin the shift to constructivist theories of teaching and learning. A variety of research tools were used, including questionnaires, interviews, journals, narratives and concept maps, all of which provided a rich source of data for interpretation. From what was gained from four participants in this research, tentative suggestions for incorporation into the next cycle of action research in future INSET programmes are made.

The medical formation includes as a graduation’s integrating clerkship, curriculum mandatory in-service training. The Family Health Strategy (ESF) clerkship was implanted in January 2007 and it was offered in the first year of internship, during the tenth period of the Federal University of Alagoas’ School of Medicine (FAMED -UFAL). This study aims to analyze the development of students for Basic Atention during internship in ESF under FAMED-UFAL students' perceptions, it was structured as a qualitative research with an explanatory case study. Data collection was conducted through focus group technique and treated using the content analysis tool proposed by Bardin. Four thematic categories emerged: autonomy as recognition of value; relationship with users and professionals from the service; medical student frustration about the health services reality; skills and abilities acquisition during the clerkship. Many of the factors analyzed are required to compose a comprehensive framework for specific skills and abilities development, predicted in the DCN. In the end, we understand that it is up to medical schools continue to think about the formation process of their graduating students. / A formação do médico inclui, como etapa integrante da graduação, estágio curricular obrigatório de treinamento em serviço. O estágio em Estratégia Saúde da Família (ESF) foi implantado em 2007, no décimo período da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal de Alagoas, no primeiro ano do internato. Este estudo tem como objetivo analisaro desenvolvimento discente na Atenção Básica durante o estágio em ESF na percepção dos estudantes, estruturado como pesquisa qualitativa, com delineamento de estudo de caso. Os dados foram coletados através da técnica de Grupo Focal e analisados com a ferramenta de análise de conteúdo segundo Bardin. Emergiram quatro categorias: autonomia como reconhecimento de valor; relacionamento com usuários e profissionais do serviço; sentimento de frustração do estudante diante da realidade dos serviços de saúde; aquisição de competências e habilidades. Muitos dos fatores analisados foram necessários à composição de um quadro compreensivo quanto ao desenvolvimento de competências e habilidades específicas, previsto nas Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais. Ao final, entendemos que cabe às escolas médicas dar continuidade às reflexões sobre o processo de formação dos graduandos.

Over the past ten years, South Africa has undergone substantial changes, following the advent of democracy. Key amongst these changes being the transformation of educational policy. These policy changes have introduced new structural frameworks within which we operate (including myself as a subject advisor) and new roles for educators. These policy changes affect all the levels of the education system, and have an impact at school level, where teachers are now responsible for learning programme development (including a focus on lesson planning). Lesson planning in an outcomes-based education framework is a challenging aspect of policy implementation. South Africa is faced with the challenges associated with policy change and implementation. The role of the subject advisors and facilitators who support the teachers to make sense of the curriculum is crucial, as they provide the interface between policy and practice. They are the people who work most with teachers, and have a responsibility for curriculum implementation. This study aimed to explore the strategies which are used by subject advisors and facilitators to support teachers develop lesson plans with an environmental learning focus. A qualitative case study was conducted in which I looked at how the support processes were provided by the subject advisors and facilitators in the Eastern Cape in particular the NEEP-GET cluster in the Makana district. The study employed a range of data producing techniques such as questionnaires, interviews, document analysis and observation. The data was analysed to report the findings. The research indicates that some strategies are used to provide curriculum and pedagogical support and guidance, but that these are superficially treated and others have not been attempted at all. This therefore shows that further growth in this area is possible amongst the subject advisors. Recommendations relevant to both the subject advisors and the Department of Education so as to enhance the support processes and professional development of subject advisors have been made.